Now Mayor Michael Bloomberg made the case Friday, March 4th for banning lighting up at city bus stops, arguing that non-smokers should never be forced to inhale cigarette fumes. A week after signing a law to ban smoking in parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas, Bloomberg compared smoking at bus stops to smoking in restaurants and bars.

"Now you can say, well, they shouldn't be standing near me, but if you're smoking, for example in a bus stop, people have to take a bus...And so it's like the workplace," Bloomberg told WOR's John Gambling during his weekly radio sit-down.

"The argument for not smoking in bars and restaurants and places like that is that the people that work there shouldn't have to choose between their job and their health," he said. "If you have to make that choice, we don't think you should."

While he said that City Hall has received calls from a number of people requesting a ban, he said the administration is not actively pursuing one now.

March 4, 2011 - A group of lung cancer patients who claimed long-time smoking was the cause of their illness have decided to take a “tobacco suit” to the Supreme Court after losing two previous legal battles.

The Seoul High Court said Wednesday, March 2nd that the plaintiffs comprised of six cancer patients and 25 family members filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, claiming that KT&G, the largest cigarette maker in South Korea, should be liable for compensating the patients.

The dispute over whether the tobacco firm is responsible for compensating the patients dates back to 1999 when the six and their family members filed a damages suit against KT&G and the government, demanding a 307 million won ($274,000) settlement.

March 4, 2011 - One out of every 10 female high-school students smoke cigarettes habitually, ringing alarm bells at schools and with parents in search of an effective way to discourage young women from picking up the habit.

According to a study by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHSA), Wednesday, March 2nd the smoking rate among female high-school students stood at 10.2 percent in 2009, up from 2.4 percent in 1992. The rate of female middle school students rose to 5.1 percent from 2.8 percent over the same period. Smokers are defined as those lighting up at least once a month. About 7.4 percent of adult women were found to smoke regularly in 2009, up from 5.1 percent in 1992.

“I am pretty positive that more young women smoke in reality than the official statistics indicate because many are reluctant to publically admit they are smokers. Also, an even larger proportion of female students now smoke cigarettes than in 2009,” a KIHSA fellow Suh Mee-kyung said. Suh said female adolescents are easily influenced by outside factors, stressing that if they are encouraged by teachers, parents, friends and anti-smoking campaigners, they are more likely to quit before reaching adulthood.

“The government first needs to introduce a monitoring system to understand how and where young female students learn to smoke cigarettes, in order to draw up an effective anti-smoking policy. Additionally, it should be made much tougher than it currently is for them to purchase cigarettes,” the fellow said. She added a nationwide full-fledged anti-smoking campaign should be launched to increase the awareness among adolescents of the cigarette’s negative effects on their health.

According to the information provided there is insufficient evidence to show that menthol increases smoke inhalation, exposure to nicotine or disease risk. However, the draft report did say that menthol may mask the harshness of smoking and could be more attractive to young smokers.

As pointed out when following the growth of menthol cigarettes altering the concentration of menthol can help target certain consumers.

March 3, 2011 - CARACAS -- Venezuela’s Ministry of Health has annulled by decree an anti-smoking law which would have prohibited smoking in public places and offices of work a day after it was published. By contrast to the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, Venezuela is one of the few countries that still allowed smoking in a wide variety of public places, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and stadiums.

A day after the anti-smoking law was printed in the Official Gazette, the annulment resolution was published in the Official Gazette. All laws must be published in the government's Official Gazette to be official. The text read: “to declare the absolute annulment of the resolution of environments free of smoke identified by number 014 and the date of February 24.” No motive or explanation was given for the sudden annulment.

Sources at the Ministry of Health have not given out any official or non official statements as to the reasons for annulling a law which, in addition to banning smoking, would have mandated the obligatory posting of signs indicating: “This is an environment 100% free of tobacco smoke by resolution of the Ministry of Popular Power for Health.”

It wasn't until 2005 that the Venezuela government forced the tobacco companies in Venezuela to print highly visible health warnings on the front of all cigarette packs with texts containing explicit evidence about the different hazards caused on the body due to tobacco consumption.

In 2007, the Venezuela Health Minister was forced to resign after causing a public uproar by saying that the country was considering banning tobacco production, comments he later retracted. Health Minister Erick Rodriguez had told a local radio station that "not even producing tobacco nor cigarettes" would be allowed under new regulations the government was contemplating, saying: "Anyone who wants a cigarette should bring it from abroad." May 15, 2007 - Venezuela to End Domestic Tobacco Output, Health Minister Says by Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Bloomberg.com, 5/25/2007)Venezuela's tobacco industry generates thousands of jobs and is one of the biggest taxpayers in the country. According to some industry surveys, as many as half of Venezuelans smoke.

March 3, 2011 - Bulgaria's state cigarette maker Bulgartabac Holding, which is about to be privatized, completed 2010 with a net profit of BGN 20 M (14.3 M USD)

The company's financial performance was announced in a statement in which its management also said that the profit "confirms the consistent trend of positive financial results."

Bulgartabac's 2010 profit is 16.5 times larger than it was in 2009. The consolidated income from cigarette sales grew 22% year-on-year.

In 2010, 80% of the produce of Bulgartabac Holding was exported, compared with 53% in 2009, and only 31% in 2008.

In addition to its growing exports, the Bulgartabac Holding Group occupies 37% of the Bulgarian domestic tobacco market. 3.5% of Bulgartabac's income for 2010 came from the sales of tobacco leaves.

The Bulgartabac Holding Group features two cigarette plants – Blagoevgrad-BT and Sofia BT – and a tobacco processing plant, Pleven-BT. As a result of the good financial results, in the fourth quarter of 2010, the shares of Bulgartabac Holding gained 54.77% on the Sofia Stock Exchange, Sofia-BT – 66.04%, Blagoevgrad-BT – 30.26%, Pleven-BT – 40.03%.

Bulgartabac's improved financial results have been announced just as the Borisov Cabinet is preparing to privatize the company. About a dozen strategic and financial investors have declared interest in the privatization of Bulgaria's state cigarette producer Bulgartabac Holding, according to Economy Minister Traicho Traikov.

Unofficial information reported in the Bulgarian media says that the bidders seeking to purchase Bulgartabac include companies from Bulgaria, Greece, and South Korea.

Bulgartabac, whose state management has been questionable in the recent years, is being put on the privatization table after its privatization has been mulled for years.

In January, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov reiterated earlier announcements that Bulgaria's government is determined to go ahead with the planned sale of the country's tobacco company, the biggest military plant and the minority stakes in electricity distributors. (Bulgaria - about a dozen investors declared interest in the privatization of Bulgartabac Holding..)The sale of Bulgartabac Holding AD, Sopot-based Vazovski Mashinostroitelni Zavodi or VMZ, and the minority stakes in the electricity distributors have been said to be a must-do task in 2011 due to the sorry performance of the state-owned companies.

The Economy Ministry revealed in January that the consultant Citibank has made preliminary inquiries with about 100 potential strategic and financial investors from around the world with respect to Bulgartabac's privatization in order to make sure that all "serious" investors that are not aware of the sale of the Bulgarian cigarette company.

According to the Ministry, there is a sufficient number of companies interested in the privatization of Bulgartabac because it is an attractive asset even in a time of crisis.

The Economy Ministry said it wants to find a buyer for Bulgartabac by the summer of 2011.

In spite of declarations in April 2010 that Bulgaria's Privatization Agency hoped to complete the sale of state-owned cigarette monopoly Bulgartabac in 2010, no such deal went through by the end of December 2010.

The two less profitable cigarette plants of Bulgartabac holding – in the cities of Plovdiv and Stara Zagora – were sold in 2009 through the Sofia Stock Exchange – for BGN 31 M and BGN 18 M respectively; the holding still owns the two larger and more consolidated factories in Sofia and Blagoevgrad as well as a number of commercial brands.

March 3, 2011 - A plan to pay down the state's retiree benefit obligations was snuffed out by lawmakers Feb. 28 after Senate leaders tried to tie it to an increase in the state's tobacco tax and mandating insurance coverage for autistic children.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 9 to 8 against passing a bill to shore up the state's other post-employments benefits program , or OPEB, after committee leaders amended it to include a tax hike for cigarettes and other tobacco products. They also amended it to require insurers to cover the cost of treating children with autism. The amended bill would've set aside $6 million annually in Medicaid funding to help the state-run Public Employee's Insurance Agency come up with the additional money needed to provide coverage.

All three have been hot-button issues during the current legislative session. Monday's (February 28, 2011) single vote might have been the death blow for all three, although lawmakers have until Wednesday to pass bills from one legislative chamber to the other.

Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, was disappointed lawmakers rejected the financing plan for OPEB he had championed but felt it was really the tax increase the other committee members were turning down. “My opinion is it was not a vote against OPEB,” he said. “It was a vote against the funding source.”

The state is currently facing $8 billion in unfunded OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) liabilities over the next two to three decades. McCabe has put forward a plan to stabilize that debt over the next five years to give the state Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) Finance Board breathing room to come up with a solution.

A major part of that plan was using the tobacco tax hike to fund annual payments of $50 million to OPEB (Other Post Employment Benefits) over 20 years.State cigarette taxes would increase from the current 55 cents a pack to $1.55 a pack. All other tobacco taxes would increase from 7 percent of wholesale price to 50 percent.

The money generated by the increase would be used for a host of health-related programs, not just OPEB. Tobacco-prevention programs, in-home services and the West Virginia University School of Public Health would have received additional funds.

Public health advocates also believe that higher taxes will convince more people to quit using tobacco.

As for insurance coverage, West Virginia is among the states that do not mandate that insurance companies cover treatment for autistic children, which can run as much as $30,000 a year, if not more. Insurance companies say passing such a mandate would raise rates for everyone.

There were no clear signs about what the defeat of the bill meant for all three issues. The House of Delegates has already passed its own insurance mandate for autism, but it still must pass the Senate. A similar tobacco tax hike is working its way through House committees but has yet to come to the floor for a vote. And there is nothing like the OPEB bill in the House.

March 3, 2011 - The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries against rising cases of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer and diabetes, saying the burden of NCDs will be worsening in the future, local media reported here on Thursday.

The UN agency said Indonesia is facing compounding burdens from both NCDs and communicable diseases.

Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO regional director for Southeast Asia, said on Wednesday that most NCDs could be prevented or eliminated by early detection, good diet, exercise and access to treatment. "If one family member is ill, it can draw other family members into a downward spiral of worsening health and unrelenting poverty. Many countries will face difficulties in allocating budgets for NCDs unless they begin re-prioritising their efforts and funding," Plianbangchang was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying, adding that effective control of NCDs would be cheaper than treatment, both for governments and families.

In 2005, the WHO found that NCDs accounted for 54 percent of the 14.7 million annual deaths in South East Asia, with cardiovascular disease as the number-one NCD (28 percent). According to the WHO, of all deaths cause by NCDs, 22 percent were in Southeast Asia, the Jakarta Post reported.

The WHO estimated that the region would see an increasing number of deaths from NCD, estimating a 21 percent increase between 2006 and 2015.In 2008, the WHO found that breast cancer and lung cancer were the top NCDs. The 2008 report showed that 36.2 percent of breast cancer cases were found in Indonesian women younger than 40, and 29.8 percent of lung cancer cases in men younger than 30.

The Global Adult Tobacco survey, conducted between 2008 and 2010, showed that Indonesia ranked first among Southeast Asian nations in smoking prevalence among adults with 65.2 percent of men and 4.5 percent of women. According to the WHO, the top risk factors causing NCDs are the between 8 percent and 26 percent of adults who do not get physical exercise as advised by physicians, the 250 million smokers in Southeast Asia, around 80 percent of the citizens do not eat enough fruits and vegetables and obesity among children and teenagers. Health minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said that the percentage of deaths from NCDs in Indonesia in 1995 was 41.7 percent. In 2007, the figure was 59.5 percent, according to the Basic Health Research conducted that same year. She added that strokes accounted for 15.4 percent of the deaths, the highest cause of death by degenerative disease. Endang said the ministry covered 60 percent of the provinces for NCDs as the ministry also focused on communicable diseases in certain regions. "But we realise we need to carry out preventative measures for NCDs before it's too late. I have asked the related division to make simple leaflets on how to cut the consumption of salt, sugar and fritters," she said.

Clip on map to enlarge..March 3, 2011 - Most of the councillors informally polled by the Taranaki Daily News yesterday were against a smoking ban for the New Plymouth central business district (CBD). New Plymouth is the major city of the Taranaki Region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

Of the 11 councillors contacted, eight were against the proposed ban that Taranaki District Health Board health promoter Jill Nicholls called for at a meeting of the New Plymouth District Council on Tuesday. Ms Nicholls, in her deputation, spoke of a vision of the tobacco industry being dead in New Zealand by 2020 and asked councillors to consider a smoking ban in the CBD to support the idea.There were two questions asked of councillors yesterday:When was the last time you had a cigarette and how do you feel about a proposed smoking ban in the New Plymouth CBD?

Three of the councillors spoken to had never smoked or had only tried it as a teenager, yet two of these councillors didn't support the smoking ban. Despite eight of the councillors being reformed smokers, most weren't bothered enough by other smokers to want a ban enforced.

Councillors spoke of the difficulty in policing a ban and many touched on it being a human right's issue or a matter of personal choice.

Comment of Alex Matheson

"I haven't had a cigarette in many years, I would have been in my 30s probably.

March 2, 2011 - Health Minister John Hill yesterday announced new, tough, anti-smoking regulations, in the latest bid to help people kick the habit which kills more than 1100 South Australians each year. One-in-five South Australians aged over 15 are smokers with three South Australians dying from tobacco related illnesses every day.

An interesting fact:South Australia led the nation by introducing a law prohibiting smoking in vehicles in the presence of people under 16 in May 2007, in a bid to protect children from passive smoking. South Australia to ban smoking in cars with young passengers, May 7, 2008..

Smoking will be banned near South Australian playgrounds and councils will be given powers to ban it in public. The changes, which also ban cigarettes being displayed in shops and service stations, will come into force in January, 2012.

The State Government wants to reach a point where smoking is only allowed in the home, claiming its new five-year South Australian Tobacco Control Strategy 2011-2016 is a step towards this. The strategy bans smoking under public transport shelters and covered waiting taxi areas, as well as within 10m of playgrounds.

Smoking will be banned in bus, tram and train shelters, at taxi stands and near playgrounds under tougher restrictions to be introduced in South Australia.

The new measures will also allow local councils and other bodies to have events declared smoke-free while cigarettes will no longer go on display in shops or service stations from January next year.Specialist tobacconists will have until 2015 to adjust to the new measures.

Health Minister John Hill said removing all tobacco products from display would remove a strong inducement for young people to take up smoking and would help ex-smokers stay on course.

He said the hospitality industry should also prepare for a time when smoking was banned in all outdoor eating and drinking areas.

"States and territories across Australia are moving inexorably towards smoke-free outdoor eating and drinking areas to protect the health and wellbeing of their staff and customers," Mr Hill said.

"Hotels and restaurants have already complied with the introduction in 2007 of smoking restrictions in all enclosed areas and many have provided outdoor areas for customers who want to smoke.

"However, our clear ambition is for 100 percent smoke-free outdoor eating and drinking in South Australia, and we want to achieve that by 2016."

Mr Hill said three South Australians died every day from tobacco-related illness and an estimated $2.39 billion was lost to SA's economy each year in health costs and lost productivity related to smoking. "Every smoker who gives up and every young person who decides not to start is a life potentially saved and these measures will contribute to that important goal," he said.

Cancer Council figures show 72 per cent of South Australians are concerned about passive smoking. Quit SA says most smokers have made a previous attempt to quit the habit and half intend to try and stop within the next six months.

March 2, 2010 - The Tasmanian Government is being urged to speed up moves to tighten anti-smoking laws. In August last year, the state government flagged tougher tobacco laws, including a ban on smoking in playgrounds and sporting venues.

Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that Tasmania has the highest proportion of current smokers of all states and territories. The proportion of people over the age of 18 who reported that they were current smokers in Tasmania was 25% which is well above the national average of 20.1% (ABS, 2009).

Smoking rates in young women of child-bearing age are extraordinarily high in Tasmania, even during pregnancy. A total of 35.7% of all public patients who were pregnant in 2005 reported that they smoked (DHHS, 2009).

Nationally, the Preventative Health Taskforce has set out its plan to reduce the prevalence of daily smoking to 10% by 2020. Tasmania Together targets for the proportion of Tasmanians aged 18 and over who are current smokers in 2010 is 15%, 12% by 2015 and 10% by 2020(benchmark 3.3).

Launceston is the latest city to go smoke-free in parts of its central business district (CBD).Alderman Ivan Dean says the Council was not willing to wait for the Tasmanian parliament. "It would be probably be two years before we'd see it before Parliament or at least put into action," he said.

The Cancer Council's Darren Carr wants the government to introduce legislation when parliament resumes next week. "In the past we've been leading tobacco control, but now we've been overtaken by several other states."

In a statement, the Health Minister, Michelle O'Byrne, says she is committed to reducing the number of Tasmanians that smoke.

It remains our view that menthol will not be banned from US cigarettes but we continue to believe that there remains headline risk around the (non-binding) report to the FDA to be published by TPSAC (Tobacco products scientific advisory committee).

March 2, 2011 - Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) draft report released on March 1st - menthol tobacco products may not increase smokers' risk of disease more than other cigarettes.

According to the report, released late Monday, March 1st there is insufficient evidence to show that menthol increases smoke inhalation, exposure to nicotine or disease risk. Analysts say the results are in line with expectations and echo what panel members had said in prior public meetings.

The draft report did say that menthol may mask the harshness of smoking and could be more attractive to young smokers.

"While the headlines read quite positively thus far pertaining to the release of these chapters, we believe this is quite one-sided," Stifel Nicolaus analysts wrote in a client note. "We cannot call these chapters a net positive for U.S. tobacco stocks," the firm said, as the section on youth initiation and smoking cessation was rather harsh.

The tobacco advisory panel will meet Wednesday, March 2nd to further discuss the potential public health risks of menthol products and will issue a final report to the FDA by March 23. The agency isn't required to follow the committee's recommendations.

March 1, 2011 - The Tobacco Merchants Association will host its 96th annual meeting and conference on May 22-24, 2011 at the Kingsmill Resort and Spa in Williamsburg,Virginia,USA.

The conference, titled "Evidence-based Science and Regulation of the Tobacco Industry," will kick off Sunday, May 22 with a series of pre-conference Food and Drug Administration industry workshops. Monday's program will open with top securities analysts detailing the current competitive position of the industry, followed by a discussion of the regulatory environment.

Other topics industry leaders will address during the conference are menthol use, illicit trade and e-cigarettes. There will also be two sessions on adapting to regulatory change, one addressing leaf varieties and the other pesticide use and the FDA.

Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, will be on hand to address the conference attendees. In addition, confirmed speakers include analysts Matthew Grainger from Morgan Stanley and Nik Modi from UBS; Jeff Cohen, ATF attorney for St. Regis; and Dr. Michael Siegel, Boston University School of Public Health.

March 1, 2011 - Illicit trade of cigarettes in Australia has soared 25 per cent since the federal government last year moved to increase tax on cigarettes sharply and promised to bring in mandatory plain packaging, one of the world's most powerful tobacco company executives has claimed.

Background:April 29, 2010 - Tobacco tax increase - April 29, 2010 - the 25 percent increase was announced by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and put into force overnight on the same day (adding about $2.16 to a pack of 30 cigarettes). According to Maurice Swanson, tobacco control spokesperson for the Heart Foundation, the tobacco tax had not been increased in real terms for a decade. There are now even calls to further increase the tobacco tax. (Australia - tobacco tax increase results in more people quitting..

"The big concern is illicit trade," New York-based Louis Camilleri, chairman and chief executive of Philip Morris International, said. "Since the tax increase last summer [April], illicit trade has increased by 25 per cent in Australia."

The alleged rise in cigarette smuggling poses a direct threat to the government's revenue base, with the Australian Taxation Office collecting nearly $6 billion a year in tobacco excise and duties. Budget papers have forecast that last April's decision to hit smokers with an immediate tax rise of 25 per cent would deliver an extra $5 billion in tax revenue over five years. Those extra taxes were earmarked to support the National Health and Hospitals Network Fund.

It is believed a grouping of US and British tobacco companies, with operations in Australia, is set to release as early as today an independent report that will show a clear link between the decision to increase tobacco taxes in April and a rise in smuggling and counterfeiting by criminals.

Tobacco companies also claim that plain packaging will make it easier for counterfeiters to pass their packets as legal product. Plain packaging legislation is expected before Parliament this year and to come into affect on January 1, 2012.

Question: (PMI - q4 2010 business results..)And then lastly, could you update us on the status of plain packaging in Australia? And then also your view on the plain packaging discussions underway in the UK and European Union?

Louie Camilleri

Yes. It appears that the Australian government remains intent on pursuing legislation calling for plain packaging. We’ll see what happens. My guess is we’ll know a lot more by this summer, but there certainly seems to be a strong intent to pursue it. It sort of defies logic, because I don’t think that it will affect consumption levels in any way.

Furthermore, the big concern is illicit trade, which since the tax increase last summer illicit trade has increased by 25% in Australia. So, I’m hopeful that the government is looking at that very closely, because plain packaging will certainly not address that issue and will not address smoking incidence or smoking prevalence.

The U.K., I said that, they would study it, but that they would have to have clear unequivocal evidence that it would in fact address smoking prevalence or incidence and that they would have to look at very carefully. Legal ramifications of such a measure with regard to constitutional issues as well as IP issues also related to trade issues in the trade agreements and the intellectual property protection that comes with those trade agreements, so, the UK is looking at it very sensibly.

In the EU, DG SANCO, the Health Commission as it were, has started a revision of the tobacco product directive, and is looking at host slew of measures. That’s probably a three-year to five-year process. But as I said, I think plain packaging doesn’t make any sense and we’ll fight plain packaging in every way possible.

Data published by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service does show an increase in tobacco smuggling in 2009-10, a year that includes two months of the stiff rise in cigarette taxes. Detection of illicit tobacco totalled 310,707 kilograms last financial year, nearly double the 175,405 kilograms detected in 2008-09. More than 68.72 million cigarettes were detected, up from 50.177 million the year before.

Tim Wilson, director of the Institute of Public Affairs' free trade unit, said higher taxes would encourage criminal behaviour. "The more prices rise the greater there's a temptation for organised crimes to supply the market and for consumers to buy out of the black market, and in the process taxes to pay for the health consequences go out the window," he said.

Even the government's own adviser, Intellectual Property Australia, has warned against plain packaging's risk to increase counterfeit tobacco products entering Australia. "The government likes to argue they're leading the world by introducing plain packaging, but they seem oblivious to the serious legal risks from stripping trademarks when the UK, Canadian, New Zealand, Lithuanian and mid-1990s Australian government have rejected plain packaging on intellectual property grounds."

Fiona Sharkie, executive director of Quit Victoria, said a rise in illicit trade was expected when the tax was increased, but this would pale in comparison against the revenue raised. She said earlier figures on illicit trade in a report commissioned by the tobacco companies were strongly criticised and disputed at the time.

Uganda seal..March 1, 2011 - Persons who smoke in public places risk being imprisoned for up to two months if the draft bill on tobacco control is enacted. The Tobacco Control Bill 2010 was drafted by public health advocates, which include the Uganda National Tobacco Control Association and The Environmental Action Network. The Bill is intended to guide the Government in enforcing the National Environment (Control of Smoking in Public Places) Regulations 2004 that imposed a ban on smocking in public places.

The ban followed the December 2002 declaration by the High Court that smoking in public places was a violation of non-smokers’ rights to life and to a clean and healthy environment.

The regulations have, however, not been enforced and there have been no reported arrests or prosecutions in relation to the control of public smoking.

Back in August 2004, Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, then Water, Lands and Environment minister, just after signing the law banning smoking in public told police: " “Now that the law is here, if you find someone or people smoking in public places, just arrest them." But little has changed in 4-years, Ugandans continue to puff away wherever they please following failure by the responsible government agencies to implement the directive. (Uganda - smoking ban NOT enforced..)

The two organisations (Uganda National Tobacco Control Association and The Environmental Action Network) are now engaging the ministry of health to table the Bill before Parliament. But Gilbert Muyambi, the secretary general of the Uganda National Tobacco Control Association, said they may sponsor it as a private members bill if the ministry is hesitant.Primary health care state minister James Kakooza is optimistic that the ministry will support the Bill to protect human health, regardless of how much money is raised by taxing tobacco products. He said this was the position they intended to present before the Cabinet.

The draft Bill suggests that no person shall smoke a tobacco product while in an enclosed public place, workplace, or within five metres of the doorways of such places. It also empowers owners, occupiers and operators of public places to evict smokers from their premises.The Bill also seeks to prohibit retail sale of tobacco products in certain places and imposes a similar penalty on persons who contravene this section. Such places include any place accessible to the general public for collective use, regardless of ownership or right of access.

Persons who knowingly or unknowingly sell cigarettes to minors will also face prosecution. “The products will also include objects like sweets, snacks, cigarette lighters or toys that resemble a tobacco product or which in any way are likely to appeal to a person under the age of eighteen years” Muyambi noted.

According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco kills 4.9 million people per year. It is estimated that by 2030, 10 million people will die each year from tobacco-related illnesses, 70% of these in developing countries like Uganda.

March 1, 2011 - The Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control is becoming increasingly concerned about the decision to expand the production of tobacco growing in Jamaica, which is in direct contravention of the World Health Organization (WHO) treaty - The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The Government of Jamaica signed the FCTC on 24 September 2003 and ratified it on 7 July 2005.

In addition to the expansion of tobacco production, the Government is also in breach of its obligations under the FCTC as it relates to the passing of tobacco control legislation. (Gov't should not promote use of tobacco, Jamaica Observer, 3/9/201)

In contravention of this treaty, the Government through the Ministry of Education and the Child Development Agency has been collaborating with the tobacco company in the promotion of youth anti tobacco campaigns.

So last week, the new Tory-led coalition government surprised some of its supporters and introduced a ban on point-of-sale display of cigarettes in shops. It is also consulting on plain paper packs to make cigarettes as unappealing as possible. When governments take action it can move public opinion and force even conservative successor administrations to take a progressive line.

We took tough action because smoking kills. Half of the people currently smoking in Jamaica will die from a tobacco-related disease. But precisely because European countries have been so effective in tobacco control, "Big Tobacco" companies are now turning to countries like Jamaica. They believe that smaller and poorer countries will be less likely to put up a fight. But we know that the more Jamaicans smoke, and the earlier they start, the more likely they are to die prematurely.

Jamaica's people are its biggest asset. So public health should be a key concern of any Jamaican government. And government policies that bring down levels of smoking actually save the tax-payer money in the long run. Less smoking means fewer people needing expensive treatment for cancer.

In the short run, tobacco companies have money to spend and it is easy for lobbyists to dismiss health concerns. We in Britain faced some of these same arguments. But let us hope that Jamaica has the courage to pursue policies that will bring down levels of smoking. The health of the nation will benefit and children yet unborn will be grateful.